“New call for £15,000 personal tax allowance threshold for people on State Pension”

Feb 21, 2024 | Tax

An independent (financial adviser’s) view

Currently around 11m of us file a tax return by that awful deadline of 31st Jan. That might sound like a lot, but is only around a third of those who actually pay tax. There are many who don’t currently pay tax, and many who will or should be tax returning next year; but most won’t realise they should. Increases in interest rates, for instance, mean that if you have anything around £25-30,000 in a halfway-decent bank account, you’ll be earning enough interest to have to declare it. And next year, the good news that state pensions will go up by 8.5% brings the bad news that many, again, will have to start paying tax on them. Popular misconception: they’ll tell you if you need to send a return. No, it’s up to you to declare any tax you think you might owe. Chaos ensuing, I’d say.

Read more here

“Rachel Reeves may be forced to raise taxes”

“Rachel Reeves may be forced to raise taxes”

Why did she/they (in the old sense) think that tinkering around with IHT and CGT would be enough to sort out the NHS; and the potholes; and…and the list goes on. My guess is  that they asked the Treasury for a list of anything not involving income tax that they could get away with lightly, although they should already have learned from the winter fuel stuff that all publicity is not good publicity.